This article was first published in the September 11 print edition of the University Times.
From its two-episode premiere, the new Disney+ Star Wars show “The Acolyte” seemed to be off to a good start. The show, which premiered on June 4, started with 4.8 million views on its first day of streaming, eventually rising to 11.1 million views in its first five days, according to Deadline. It was the biggest launch for a Disney+ show in 2024.
But afterward, the show went on a viewership decline. Deadline reported the finale is believed to be the lowest-viewed Star Wars series finale. And due to the lower viewership, Disney announced the show’s cancellation on August 19, a little over a month after the season finale. The low viewership could be attributed to one or two things: either audiences genuinely weren’t interested in The Acolyte, or the backlash it faced from certain sections of the Star Wars fanbase for casting diverse actors in lead roles.
One might assume that Disney expected “The Acolyte” to be a bigger hit than it ultimately turned out to be, especially considering that reports say the budget was around $180 million for the entire season. I recently binge-watched the show in preparation for writing this piece, and I thought it was a genuinely serviceable television show. It was a middle of the road tv show. I can give them props for taking a swing at doing a new Star Wars story in an unexplored time period of the universe. Even if the swing didn’t fully connect. It started off with some good ideas and it proceeded to either go nowhere with those ideas or the ideas felt very half baked.
The show presents an idea that the Jedi are space cops. They are an institution who believe they are the only ones who should be allowed to control the force and control who else has access to the force. But the show just needed more episodes and longer episode runtimes to explore that idea. In this writer’s opinion, the only great Star Wars show that Disney+ has produced so far is “Andor.” “Andor” is leagues ahead of every other Star Wars show that Lucasfilm or Disney have produced.
“Andor” is the gold standard for what a Disney+ Star Wars show should be. At first, it looked like a cheap idea just to feed the Disney+ machine. But shows like “Better Call Saul” have shown that you can take an idea that sounds uninteresting on paper (a spin off show about a character from a spin off Star Wars movie) and deliver something exceptional. Andor takes a well known time period of the Star Wars galaxy and gives a wholly new perspective on the galaxy while also feeling familiar.
The original Star Wars trilogy is an allegory about the Vietnam War, according to interviews with creator George Lucas, where the rebel alliance are the Viet Cong and Emperor Palpatine is Richard Nixon. Andor’s themes and messaging feels akin to that allegory because Andor gives the context that the victory of the rebellion didn’t come from space wizards or royal families. The victory of the rebellion came from revolutionaries who had everything to lose in the fight to overthrow the Empire. The Acolyte felt like it was missing the love and care for storytelling that was given to Andor.
Unbeknownst to some, there is a Star Wars club on campus at Cal State LA. I was able to reach out and talk to a member of the club, Jose Jesus Tello, who has been a Star Wars fan since he was five years old. He believed the show was decent and had room for improvement.
“I feel like adding more episodes to be able to flesh it out more would have done the show wonders,” said Tello. “I feel like limiting it to only eight episodes just ends up forcing them to make a lot of concessions or trying to cram everything in, which can end up looking forced.” TV shows in the current streaming era now have their episodes reduced to about 8-12 episodes, and there are pros and cons to this format.
The Acolyte had a lot of problems but the main problem is that the show just feels very undercooked. This isn’t unusual for most television shows, and not every TV show is going to come storming out of the gate with an incredible first season, like the first season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” One of my all time favorite shows is “Breaking Bad” and the first season is decent, it’s nothing to write home about just yet.
“Breaking Bad” really finds its identity in the second season, and that’s usually the case with TV shows. Some shows just get better as they go on. The Acolyte definitely had room to improve in a second season — but for better or worse, we may never know.
The next Star Wars show slated for release is “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.” which releases on Disney+ on December 3, and will consist of eight episodes.
